Raspberry and Vanilla Mini Muffins

These Raspberry and Vanilla Mini Muffins are so cute, and so yummy!  They are quick and easy to make and are a great little treat.

Makes 24.

1 ½ cups self raising flour
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 cup reduced fat vanilla yoghurt
80g reduced fat margarine or butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease two 12 hole mini muffin tins.
Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl.  Add the yoghurt, margarine, egg and vanilla to the flour and stir until combined.
Roughly chop the raspberries, and then fold through the mixture.
Fill the muffin holes with the mixture.  Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden.  Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  If you like, dust with icing sugar before serving.

Lunchbox Bakes - Cheesy Ham and Corn Mini Muffins

I found this recipe on the Healthy Food Guide website after seeing it mentioned in one of my magazines.  I’ve copied the recipe straight across from there as it reads on their website, but I found when I made these that they took way longer than 12 minutes to cook and it also made about 30 muffins.  All the nutritional information is with the original recipe if you are interested and someone has programmed it all into the ‘My Fitness Pal’ app that I use – brilliant!

cooking oil spray
2 cups self-raising flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup grated courgette (1 large)
1 cup (220g) fresh, frozen or canned corn kernels
75g ham, diced
½ cup grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese
200ml trim milk
1 egg
80ml (⅓ cup) sunflower oil

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Spray a 24-hole mini-muffin tin with oil.
Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.  Add courgette, corn, ham and cheese. Stir to combine.  Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg and sunflower oil.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined.
Divide mixture among muffin holes.  Bake for 12 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Remember, you too can take part in Lunchbox Bakes – just flick us an email to bmtbblog@gmail.com.  You can read more about this event on the Lunchbox Bakes page.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Santa Hats

Don’t these look cute?  I saw a picture of something similar to these the other week that were made from what looked like chocolate brownie that had been cut into circular shapes before being topped with the strawberries – too much fuss for me!  I decided to create mine using mini chocolate cupcakes instead.  The cupcake recipe I’ve used is delicious – it has a nice fudgy taste and goes so super well with the frosting and strawberries.  They are super easy to make and I think I’m going to have to re-use this recipe again :)
I’ve put the recipe for the mini muffins first, followed by the frosting and decoration recipe so you don’t get confused with a long list of ingredients.

Makes about 36

Mini Chocolate Muffins:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon instant coffee powder (optional)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk (low fat is ok)
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar.  Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and Decoration:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

36 strawberries, leaves removed

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low.  Gradually add the sugar, then the vanilla and salt, and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Pipe the frosting mixture into a circle on the top of each mini muffin.  Place a strawberry in the centre of each frosting circle.  Pipe a small ball of frosting onto the top of each strawberry as the pom-pom for the Santa hat.

Mini Feta and Tomato Muffins with Salami and Pesto

Simon did our grocery shopping this week.  Yes, that was nice of him I suppose, but we ended up with nothing for our morning teas and lunches.  I’ve come to the rescue and made us these mini muffins :)
These make a cute snack and are pretty healthy as you don’t have any sugar or butter.  They are also a good finger food idea if you are having a party.

Makes 36

2 cups self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon chilli powder
⅓ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped (I like the Delmaine tomatoes that are in water rather than oil)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
150g crumbed feta cheese
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large eggs, beaten
100g salami
⅓ cup basil pesto

Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Grease 3 12-hole mini muffin pans.
Place the flour, baking powder, salt, chilli powder, tomatoes and both cheeses into a bowl and make a well in the centre.  Add the milk, oil and eggs into the bowl and mix until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans and bake for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
Cut each muffin in half and fill with a piece of salami and a smear of pesto.  Top each muffin with a small dollop of pesto if desired.

* If you don’t like tomatoes these can be omitted. 
** If you like onion, add one small one, diced.
*** If you don’t like spicy food or are making these for small children you might want to omit the chilli powder.